Donna Carter loves Winchester; wants to help make it even better

When one speaks with Brenda Carter, one thing is clear: she loves Winchester and Clark County dearly, but is clear-eyed about both the challenges and the opportunities before our community. Although Donna was not born here, she has lived in Winchester with her husband — a native of our community — and their daughter for many years. And to hear her talk about it, one would think she has been here all her life. As she told me, “I love Winchester. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t live here.” I recently had the opportunity to record not one but two conversations with Donna. The first one had to be scrapped for technical reasons, but we got to record a do-over last Friday, and I think we both benefited from our “trial run.” Topics ranged from Donna’s work with the Internal Family Systems Institute in Chicago to her volunteer community work here in Winchester, particularly with the Clark County Equity Coalition, which she founded. We also talked about her life growing up in Baltimore and New Jersey, her thoughts on Black History Month, mental health, community involvement, and how to increase the number of people from minority populations in local government. The Voices of Winchester Podcast has been on hiatus since last summer, but with this interview, we are starting fresh with a commitment to producing at least one new episode per month in 2026 and beyond.